Power Rangers: Starstrike
by Pytas
Summary: The Supreme Admiral, conqueror of galaxies and destroyer of worlds, has arrived to terrorize the Earth. Under instruction from their mentor, the Starstrike force is ready to fight him off. All three of them.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

First, there was nothing.

Then a large hole was ripped in the fabric of space around Mars.

The hole was huge, big enough to fit the Moon through and have room to spare. The edges of the hole crackled with purple lightning, and in the center of the hole, a starship began to emerge.

The ship was medium-sized: large enough to have weapons outfitted to it for combat, but small enough to be a difficult target in a firefight. The ship was black as the empty void around it, and all of the armouring on it pointed forward. The needle-like ends of the armouring were blast-capable, able to fire off 1000 shots per minute each. The spaceship was more than well-equipped for any ship-to-ship combat. Towards the back of the ship, four wing-like blades spun, providing the bridge and living quarters with artificial gravity. As soon as the ship was clear of the hole, it closed up as quickly as it had opened.

"Admiral!" said a short, grey-skinned hunchbacked alien at the controls of the starship. "We have arrived in the Sol System!"

The Supreme Admiral leaned forward in his chair. It had been 3 months since he had flown his ship, the _Obsidian_, into a wormhole, leaving what remained of his previous conquest behind him. The reports he had heard of this "Earth" planet intrigued him, and he had personally come to scout the planet out. The time spent in hyperspace had been long, but he was sure it would be worth the wait.

"Is the planet within scanning range?" barked the Admiral to his science officer. The officer nodded and pressed a few buttons, then looked at a viewing screen.

"The scans indicate billions of intelligent life-forms, in addition to billions that are not. The planet's core is molten nickel, among other elements. Perfect for fuelling the Nebulons."

The Admiral sat back. His fingers ground into the arms of the chair, and he grinned—not with happiness or joy, but with anticipation of the slaughter that was sure to come. He snapped his fingers and pointed at the communications officer.

"Call the troops that remained behind and send for the planet killers." He turned to the hunchback. "And set a trajectory for the red planet."

As the _Obsidian_ settled into orbit around the fourth planet and activated its cloaking device, Admiral Sennith rose from his chair, ramrod straight with his hands clasped behind his back.

"It is going to be a wonderful apocalypse."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Checkmate!"

Ross Godfrey blinked and looked at the chessboard. He hadn't noticed it, but somehow his opponent's queen had gotten into the perfect position to capture his king. He was quite surprised; he usually was better at chess than this. He grinned and extended a hand to the winner. "Not bad, Paul."

Paul Kennedy took the hand and shook it. "What does that make? 40 games to one?"

"Forty-two. In my favour." Ross reached over and took his coffee, chugging down the rest of the cup.

"I don't understand how you can drink that much coffee that fast," said Paul, clearing the table for another game. Ross stood up and went over to the counter to order another coffee.

Ross was Paul's new college dorm roommate as of that September. The two had begun to bond over their common love of chess, although Ross was much better at it than his goofy demeanour would suggest. This led to Ross winning nearly every game—except today. Recently, Ross had told Paul about a coffee shop he liked to go to after his classes, which had a couple chess tables near the back. Now every day after classes were over, the two met up to chat and play chess, and, in Ross's case, drink lots of coffee.

Paul leaned back in the large armchair and surveyed the cafe. The cafe was fairly large, with a number of tables and chairs. The decor was old-fashioned, with everything made of wood except the cobblestone wall behind the chess tables and the big armchairs at the back. It was rather quiet that day, with only about 5 other customers besides Paul and Ross.

Paul frowned. Ross was taking a while to come back with his coffee. He got up to see what was taking him.

Ross was standing at the cash register, telling the girl working it EXACTLY what he wanted.

"...with extra cream and sugar. More cream than sugar, but less mocha than real coffee. And whipped cream. Lots of whipped cream. With...with two shots of espresso. No...three shots. I've got a big test tomorrow."

"Why aren't you studying then?" asked Paul, drinking his first coffee from half an hour ago. Ross was currently ordering his fourth.

"Oh hi Paul. And sprinkles! I love me some sprinkles."

The waitress shot Paul a look that clearly said _what the heck is with this guy? _Her nametag identified her as Kelly. Paul remembered seeing her here a couple times before. She was Asian, and appeared to be their age. _She probably works here part time_, thought Paul.

Ross removed his yellow and black toque, scratched his head, and then quickly replaced the hat. He never seemed to go anywhere without it. "Now here's the tricky part. I want yellow sprinkles on the left side and blue sprinkles on the right side. Then I want—"

"We don't actually have any yellow sprinkles," said Kelly apologetically, but rather warily.

"Oh. Well then I'll just have a large cappuccino."

"That'll be three eighty-six," said Kelly, rolling her eyes.

A large group of people came into the cafe, all chatting and laughing with each other.

"That's the afternoon crowd," Kelly said, pointing as if the two guys couldn't tell who she meant. "They always come in around three-thirty."

Paul smiled as Ross dug around in his pockets for change. "We know. We're here a lot too."

Kelly raised her eyebrows. "Oh! Do you two go to Watterson College too?"

"Hey Paul, you got a quarter?" asked Ross, counting out coins on his palm.

Paul handed him a quarter. "Yeah, we are. What are you there for?"

"I'm there for Pilot Training." Kelly began filling Ross's order as she talked. "I've always been fascinated with flying."

"Cool," said Paul, drinking his coffee (two sugars, one cream). "I'm taking Police Studies, and Ross here is taking Video Game Development. I'm Paul, by the way."

"Kelly, although you could probably tell from the nametag." She finished filling up Ross's cappuccino and handed it to him. "Nice to know you two have names beyond just 'The Guys who Play Chess.'"

"Is that what the staff knows us as?"

"Pretty much."

"Excuse me!" said a lady behind Ross. "Are you almost finished? Other people want coffee too, you know!"

"Yep, yep, just one second," said Ross in his usual chipper manner. He held the coffee cup over his head. "First, I must do the Caffeine Dance of Joy!"

"Come on, Ross, you can do that over here," said Paul, leading his friend away by the arm. "Nice talking to you, Kelly. Bye."

She waved and turned to help the impatient lady. Ross began spinning on the spot with the coffee over his head while chanting.

"Coffee, coffee, ooh loo la! Coffee, Coffee, ooh roo rah!"

"You're only doing this to embarrass me, aren't you?" asked Paul, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Yep."

"Just sit down and play a game." Paul picked up a white pawn in front of him and moved it two squares forward. "There. Your move."

"Ooh, ooh, ahh ahh," said Ross, hunching over and hobbling to the chess table like a monkey. He plopped himself down in the chair and began to play.

Meanwhile, in orbit around Mars, Supreme Admiral Sennith was speaking to his four generals: Reigon the slightly crazed Weapons Chief, Nara the devoted Communications Officer, Captain Ipp the hunchbacked Helmsman, and Teego the stoic Science Master.

"Report."

"Great Sennith, it will be at least three Standard-Months before the planet killers arrive," said Nara, bowing her head.

Sennith nodded. "Naturally. It took us three months to arrive here, so it should take at least three months for the additional troops to arrive. Anything else?"

Teego put his fist to his chest in salute. "My Lord. In my scans, I discovered an energy reading different from the rest of the life forms. ...Similar to your own."

Sennith sneered and narrowed his eyes. "As I thought. Orion. I had heard that he had fled to a backwater system after our last confrontation to heal his wounds. But to find him here...I couldn't ask for better." He turned to Reigon. "Send down a squadron of Nebulons to Orion's location immediately. Teego will feed the coordinates into the transmatter warp system."

"But, sir," said Captain Ipp, picking the remains of a Vascarian Trogus out of his teeth, "Will the Nebulons really be enough?"

Sennith smiled with pure contempt and began walking away from his generals. "Ipp, this is why you are a Captain and I am Admiral. It does not matter whether or not the Nebulons win. If they should win, that is fine. An obstacle removed, and just that. But if they lose, we can see just how well Orion fights after all this time, and adjust our fighting force accordingly. We have enough Nebulons that the loss of one squad is of no consequence. In words one as dim-witted as you may understand, no use using a nuclear strike when your opponent may be vulnerable to a simple pistol. Now then. Reigon."

Reigon snapped to attention. "Yessir!"

Sennith glared at him over his shoulder, his eyes flashing red. The strange black crack-like scar on his face seemed to darken. "I thought I told you to send out a squad."

"Yessir! Right away sir!" Reigon quickly turned around and scurried off the bridge.

"Return to your posts," said Sennith, sitting in his chair. His generals saluted, then obeyed. Sennith closed his black eyes and leaned his head back. It was going to be a long wait.

Orion the Void Hunter flipped through his newspaper. New films coming out, something involving potato farmers, and an advertisement about the yearly Festival of Hats. Average stuff for this city. This planet was still rather technologically challenged. They had barely figured out how to send spaceships to their planet's moon, let alone intergalactic travel. An accomplishment of that caliber was still a few Standard-Decades away.

Orion's wounds had still not properly healed from his last encounter with Admiral Sennith. It had been nearly a year, and there was still a large glowing gash down his left forearm. This was a major problem, as Orion was actually left-handed. Gripping anything with it sent spasms of pain through his arm, making doing almost anything impossible. Still, a little progress had been made towards his recovery. Orion had discovered that a substance known as 'caffeine' actually sped up the healing process for his species, so he spent most of his time in a building where the substance was given out in return for scraps of plant material and small discs of metal.

Orion figured that as long as he kept a low profile and kept up his guise as an Earthling, none of Sennith's forces would ever find him on such an insignificant planet. Although he had heard many tales of chosen people known as 'Power Rangers' who had protected the planet from many extraterrestrial forces, so perhaps the small blue ball wasn't all water and dirt after all. Maybe there was something here worth protecting.

As Orion leaned back in his large plushy chair (wonderful inventions) and continued to scour his newspaper for any sign that Sennith was in the area, he spotted a black, humanoid shape skulk past the window. The thing had glowing red lines across its body like cracks, emanating from the thing's left shoulder. The face of the creature was not a face, really, it was a jewel set back into a recessed area where its face should be. Orion knew these creatures too well. It was a Nebulon, the grunts of Sennith's forces. As Orion watched, more of the Nebulons began to teleport in around their comrade.

"Oh, sh—" Orion began, but was unable to finish as the Nebulons crashed through the window, knocking him back. The other patrons in the cafe began to scream and run out the door, except for two who seemed very focused on their chess game.

"Knight to B7," said the one with the glasses.

"Okay then, Bishop to B7 and capture," said the one in the hat.

"Hey! You two!" shouted Orion, pulling off his coat so it wouldn't impede his movement. "Do you not see the horde of monsters about to kill you?!"

The two finally looked up to see a Nebulon standing over them, about to strike with an electrically charged fist. The one in the hat started to scream, but Orion jumped over a coffee table and shot a ball of fire at the Nebulon's head, getting its attention.

"Holy Mother of Mackerel!" shouted Ross, jumping up on his chair. "What the heck are these things? And what did you just do?"

Orion punched another Nebulon in the stomach, knocking it back through the window it was climbing through and held up his right arm, revealing an intricate series of blue and green markings coating it. One of the green ones was glowing. "Magic tattoos, my boy. Everybody on my planet has them. They're an essential part of life!" He ducked under a punch and kicked the attacker in the gut.

"Magic tattoos? Your planet? What the hell are you talking about?" cried Paul, jumping away from a Nebulon that was getting too close.

Kelly ran over. "Guys! What are we going to do? Some jerk actually went and barricaded the door, and that's the only exit!"

Orion threw a volley of fireballs at a Nebulon, sending it stumbling backward. "Of course," he muttered. Orion snatched up his coat and rummaged around in one of the pockets.

He pulled out three metallic objects that at first glance appeared to be very fancy jewellery. "Hey! Come on, man!" said Ross, tipping his chair on top of a Nebulon and hiding behind it. "Is this really the time for inspecting your baubles?!"

"These are no mere baubles, my boy!" Orion tossed each of them one of the bracelets while ducking under a Nebulon that had decided to try a flying tackle. "These are Starstrike Power Morphers!"

"Morphers?!" shouted Ross, who had abandoned his chair and was now standing with Paul and Kelly. "Like...Power Ranger things?"

"Yes, my boy. Power Ranger _things_. Put them on your arms!" Orion continued to toss fire, but it was clear he wasn't going to be able to hold off the Nebulons forever. _If only my other arm was healed_, he thought. _I'd show these galactic nutjobs a thing or seven._

"Are we gonna be Power Rangers?!" said Ross excitedly.

"Ross! Hello! Monsters! Going to eat our faces! Focus!" shouted Paul, placing the morpher over his wrist. The morpher was teardrop shaped, with a five-pointed star-shaped hole in the largest part of the drop. Most of the device was silver, with some gold edging and a black band to keep it attached to Paul's arm. "Okay, Mr. Strange Planet Guy, now what do we do?"

"Activate them!" shouted Orion, punching a Nebulon in the face.

"Real specific!" Ross retorted.

"You have to hold them up, facing outward—" He dodged an incoming punch. "—and shout 'Our Light, Starstrike!'" A Nebulon managed to graze a blow on Orion's shoulder. He winced. "Do it already!"

"...that's a lame catchphrase!"

"Ross! Do or die time! Just do it!" Paul managed to fit the strap of the device onto his left arm, where it beeped twice before going quiet.

"Fine, fine. But can we change it later?"

"_ROSS!_"

"Right, right." Ross muttered, taking a few steps backward and fastening the morpher tight. He held up his wrist like he was pumping his fist, planted his feet firmly, and shouted the words. "Our Light, Starstrike!"

Absolutely nothing happened.

"...Something's supposed to happen now, right, space dude?" Ross looked at the device on his wrist, tweaking it around like that was supposed to help.

"Oh, yes. Turn the big part around!" Orion helpfully added, grabbing a Nebulon's head and blowing it right off. Paul could see wires and tubes sticking out of the thing's neck.

"Thank you for mentioning that earlier!" shouted Kelly, who was dancing backwards away from a Nebulon, fumbling with the strap for her morpher.

"Okay, I got this!" Ross brought his arm up again. "Our Light—" He twisted it until it made a clicking noise, then spun it around so the teardrop shape was now pointing up, with a large four-point star emblazoned underneath where it had been. A yellow light began to glow out from it. "—Starstrike!"

Ross suddenly flashed a bright yellow light which lasted only two seconds, but was long enough and bright enough to surprise and blind the Nebulons momentarily. When he stopped glowing, he was wearing a skintight yellow uniform with silver triangles on the chest area to form a galaxy-esque spiral pattern. The boots and gloves were silver, and had yellow triangles for trimming. His trademark hat had been replaced by a face-concealing helmet with a visor shaped like a four-pointed star. Another silver triangle pointed up towards the bottom point, covering his mouth, and a silver band wrapped around the center area of the helmet. A brown belt wrapped across his waist, and in the center was a rectangular buckle with a bunch of dots on it.

Ross began to look at his new outfit. "Sweeeeeet," he said, wrapping up all his feelings into one word.

"Whoa," said Paul, doing the same to his emotions.

Ross looked at Paul and gave a thumbs-up. "Come on! You morph too! I can't fight morphed for the first time until everybody's morphed too! It's a Ranger creedo or something!"

Paul glanced over at Kelly, who seemed just as surprised as him. She looked back at him and shrugged. "I suppose we should."

"Okay then," said Paul, steadying himself in preparation. Kelly did the same.

"Our Light—STARSTRIKE!" They said together, and they each began to glow, Paul red, Kelly white.

In Paul's mind's eye, he saw a spectacular sight. He saw himself, standing on a starlit hill, before suddenly a beam of light shot down onto him. A five-pointed star suddenly filled his vision, then slammed down over his face. The beam of light dissipated, and there was Paul, dressed in a red uniform and striking some fancy pose.

Then Paul opened his eyes. His vision was slightly tinted, like wearing light-coloured sunglasses. Looking down at his body showed him he was wearing the same outfit Ross was, but in red instead of yellow. Kelly was transformed too, with a white uniform and a diamond-shaped visor, and a skirt over her pants.

"...Well..." said Kelly. "I must say this is not what I was expecting when I came in to work today."

"Okay, Space Guy, what do we do now?" said Paul, wiggling his fingers to check his range of movement in the gloves.

"My name is Orion," corrected Orion. "And why not try simply punching or kicking something?!" One of the tattoos on his arm began to glow, and an electric bolt lanced from his fingers into a Nebulon's chest, sending it reeling. Two more jumped in to take its place. "I could use the help!" Orion shouted.

"Right, right!" Paul shouted back, running forward to punch a Nebulon that had managed to get around Orion. It managed to notice him and spun around, chopping through the air at head level. Paul's instincts took over and he rolled to one side to avoid the attack. As he stood up again Paul brought his fist up into the Nebulon's head, knocking it flat on the floor. Ross charged forward, aiming a kick at the fallen Nebulon's head. The kick sent its head flying off its shoulders, scoring a hit on another Nebulon and sending both parties reeling. Kelly chose to slide under another Nebulon, knocking its legs out from under it. The thing slammed on the ground hard, the crystal in its head shattering on impact. It instantly stopped moving. Noticing this, Kelly shouted to Orion.

"These things die when their face-crystals are shattered!"

"Indeed!" Orion replied, taking a step back to rest a minute while Paul and Ross began to wreak havoc on the Nebulons. "That's an important part of the Nebulon's construction! I don't exactly know what part, but it's an important enough part to completely disable them without it." He paused. "In terms you humans may understand, 'hit the glowing thing and it dies'."

Kelly nodded, rolling her eyes behind her visor. "I figured that out when it fell down dead."

"Hey! Kelly! You want to help us?" shouted Ross, ducking a punch and returning his own to his attacker's chest.

"Yeah, we're doing all the work over here!" Paul dropped to the ground and swept his leg in a circle, knocking several Nebulons off their feet.

"Right, I'm here!" replied Kelly, jumping back into the fray.

Despite being constructed out of some sort of metal, the Nebulons didn't seem to be very sturdy, going down after a few well-placed hits, especially when the crystals in their heads were targeted. One of the Nebulons attempted to throw an electrically charged punch at Ross, but he instinctively rolled to the side. Ross grabbed the Nebulon's arm, swung the robot in a circle, and threw it through the air at some of its comrades, sending them all crashing into the chair Paul had been sitting on earlier. Paul hopped up on the back of Ross's chair to get a higher ground, aiming kicks out at the attacking force. Shifting his weight, he and the chair went over, the chair crushing a Nebulon's foot upon landing. Paul rolled into the unfortunate robot's legs, causing it to lose its balance and collapse. Kelly was taking the approach of 'hit fast, don't get hurt', striking multiple times quickly. So far the enemy hadn't even landed a hit on her. She was about to land a finishing blow on a Nebulon that she'd managed to flip completely over onto its back when suddenly, all the Nebulons shimmered and flickered away like a bad TV reception.

"Where'd they go?" said a surprised Kelly.

"Back to wherever they came from, I guess," said Paul, taking a step back to catch his breath.

"Yeah? And where's that? And for that matter, what were they?" Ross said, attempting to scratch his head but being foiled by his helmet.

"Those were Nebulons," said Orion, setting one of the large plush chairs back up so he could sit in it. "They're the foot soldiers of the personal army of the Supreme Admiral Sennith."

There was silence from the three new Power Rangers.

"Sorry, what? Admiral...Zenith?" said Ross quizzically, attempting to figure out how to take his helmet off.

"Sennith. He's the leader of an intergalactic army of conquerors and trained killers. They take what they want and they always get it. Those who go up against him are either quickly silenced or...well, that's been the only option up until now." Orion kicked a Nebulon head out of the way and sat in the comfortable chair.

"Oh, great. And you're telling me that Kang the Conqueror is up in orbit, sending down troops to invade Earth?" Paul sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "This has got to be a dream. Ross, this is a dream, right? Please tell me it's a dream."

Ross shrugged. "If it's a dream, we're having the same one. And this feel a bit too visceral for a dream."

Paul groaned. "So now that we have these things," he gestured to the morpher on his wrist, "I'm guessing it's up to us to defeat the evil lord Zenny and his army of robothugs."

Orion nodded. "That is the basic gist of things, yes. From what I've seen, the weapons of your world wouldn't be enough to take him down. His ground troops, maybe, but even his henchmen are strong enough to resist bullets."

"But why us?" Kelly interjected. "Why not hand these morphers off to somebody more skilled in combat, like some military guys, or Jackie Chan, or something?"

Orion shifted his weight to his other foot and rubbed the back of his neck, obviously feeling a little awkward. "Truth is...I don't know how. After an initial use, they bond themselves to the person they were used by. Nobody else can activate them. It's a safety mechanism to prevent their use by the wrong people. There's a ceremony to transfer the powers from one person to another, but I don't know how to perform it."

Paul stared at him, dumbfounded. "But...but you're an alien or whatever! You gave us these things! You're supposed to know everything about them! Now you're telling us you don't know how they work?!"

Orion looked rather sheepish. "Yes."

"That's not good," said Ross, seemingly underwhelmed by what this implied for the three college students.

"_Not good_? This basically means we're the only thing standing between this space guy and the destruction of Earth!" Paul threw up his hands in exasperation. "I don't know about you, but that's a responsibility I don't really want on my conscience."

"Well, your options are either join the fight and take down Sennith, or watch as your entire planet is ruined and enslaved." Orion folded his arms. "No pressure."

"I'm in," Ross piped up immediately.

"Same here. Not much other choice, is there?" Kelly said. Orion looked at Paul expectantly.

"...Sure. Yeah, I'm in too. We can do this, right? Positive thinking. Gotta stay positive." Paul adjusted his glasses awkwardly.

Orion clapped his hands. "Glad to hear it. No more will you be simple students. You will gain powers derived from the cosmos themselves, and strike your enemies with full force! From now on, you three will be known as the Power Rangers: Starstrike!"


End file.
